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Tuesday, 25 March 2014

Book to write perfect Resume (CV)

Whether you call it a curriculum vitae, a cv, or a resume, it basically comes down to the same thing: it should be a fairly complete description of yourself, since it is one of the major selling points of your professional portfolio. Here are important details on how to write a resume.

tell me who you are? Very first question asked

A resume is a one or two page summary of yourself; your skills, accomplishments, work experience, and education; all aimed at piquing your future employer's interest.

A resume is like life itself: it goes through many changes. It must be updated and tailored constantly. It's important to make different drafts of your resume to come out with the best possible one, especially if you venture into different fields of work. If you are applying to different jobs, better yet, different industries, each resume requires a targeted evaluation of your skills according to the job in question.

The purpose of this article is to provide you with suggestions and guidelines on how to write a resume, by taking you through the necessary steps of the cover letter and the resume itself.

first impression

Anytime we write a resume, we have to put ourselves in the shoes of the employer that's rummaging through the stack of (probably unsolicited) resumes piling up on his desk. What s/he wants to do is cut through all the crap and get down to the good stuff — the resumes that stand out and are associated with qualified applicants.
Employers want to know why they should hire you , as opposed to the hundreds of other applicants — but most importantly, they want to see it. You have to stick it in their face and let them know that you are the best person for the job.

Cover Letter

The cover letter should be kept to a minimum in terms of information with a brief overview of yourself, and should never be longer than a page. It shouldn't unnecessarily repeat the information throughout the document. This page should consist of approximately three paragraphs, in the following format:

First paragraph
No more than two or three sentences, with a brief introduction of yourself and your career objective. Also, include the information of where you heard about the job opening, be it a newspaper or a contact within the company.

Second paragraph
This part includes relevant information in terms of your education, professional skills and pertinent abilities that would be of great use to the company. Don't be afraid to throw in some numbers indicating that you increased productivity by 25% in your past job or efficiently reduced the advertising cost by 33%. Catch my drift?

Third paragraph
This closing paragraph serves to provide the employer with straightforward personal information so they can reach you easily. Be sure to include your name, phone number, email, and fax number, if available. You want to give them every way to contact you and make it as simple as possible.